Local News

Community offers support after fire

Residents displaced after blaze at apartments; calls for housing, necessities

By Kara Morgan

The Fort Morgan Times

Posted:
03/15/2019 08:10:48 PM MDT

Editor's note: This is the second story of a two-part series. This story appeared initially in Thursday's E-Edition. Because of production issues with Thursday's print edition, this story is being reprinted in its entirety for the benefit of our print subscribers.

At least 33 residents are currently unable to return to their homes after a fire at 400 Kiowa Avenue in the early-morning hours last Monday.

Executive Director Susana Guardado of One Morgan County said their organization is working on an assessment of the situation. She said they have compiled a list of about 35 residents from the 12 units in the building, though she believes the total number could be closer to 40 people.

The Fort Morgan Fire Department, Fort Morgan Police Department and Morgan County Ambulance Service, among others, came together to support the fire suppression efforts.

Executive Director Melissa Venable from the Northern Colorado Red Cross was among those providing direct support to residents in the days after the fire. She said they worked with 33 people and a total of 10 families last week.

Guardado and Sue Boyett of Fort Morgan Cultures United for Progress said they and other partner organizations are still figuring out the immediate and long-term needs of the people affected by the fire. They urged anyone who has any information about housing options to contact One Morgan County at their location on Main Street or their office number 970-427-8790, or Boyett with FMCUP at 970-590-5922.

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Community support

Fort Morgan Fire Department First Lieutenant Dillon Prevost thanked the Fort Morgan Police Department for their support with evacuation of the building, the ambulance service for providing a place for firefighters to warm up against 30 degrees below zero wind-chill, and the city light and power department and gas department for shutting off the utilities and reducing hazards for the safety of the firefighters and other first responders.

Morgan County Ambulance Director Joe King and Public Works Director Steve Glammeyer confirmed that these departments were present at the scene early Monday morning, as they would be for any structure fire.

"In this instance, I believe the only thing we did was to have a space where firemen could come and get warmed up," King said.

Along with all of these city departments, residents and volunteers from across a range of organizations throughout Morgan County were also involved.

Prevost said the firefighters cleared the scene after about three hours on that Monday morning. Once the fire was cleared however, a lot of work remained.

Venable of the Northern Colorado Red Cross said they sent two Disaster Action Team (DAT) Responders from the Fort Collins / Loveland area to the scene in the early morning, and started to work with residents after that.

Venable explained that home fire response is an important part of Red Cross services and the magnitude of this incident in particular. Venable said first how impressed she and her organization were with the community rallying they saw in Fort Morgan.

"Typically when we respond to these types of situations, it's one fire, one family," she explained. "Obviously this is amplified, because it ended up being ten families with 33 people that ended up being displaced."

"Add to it the individuals we were helping, none of them spoke English," she continued. "We had to help coordinate with translators to make sure that they understood that we were there to help them, that they understood what help was available that they could receive."

Venable explained that they generally start to work with residents after a fire once the building or home is determined to be livable or not. She said they found out from Glammeyer and the city at about 10:30 Monday morning that the residents would be unable to get back into their apartments.

From Monday until Thursday of last week, Venable said about eight different Red Cross people worked with the residents and organizations to determine who lived there, connect with them, interview them, and provide them services as they wanted.

"We did come out and respond; we do provide what we call 'Direct Client Assistance'. With that, our mission is to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies," Venable said.

"When somebody has a home fire, we will come out and we will make sure that they have a place to stay, that they have food, they have warm clothes, those kinds of things."

"A 'Client Assistance Card', which basically is a debit card, we distribute them by family, and the amount that goes on the card, it just depends on how many family members there are," she explained.

Venable thanked the many organizations who came together to provide this immediate support and who continue to work on long-term solutions for the residents.

"As an organization, we are so impressed with the community of Fort Morgan. Some of the services we typically provide, we didn't have to because other community organizations stepped up and did that," Venable said.

Venable highlighted OMC and FMCUP for their leadership in organizing, connecting and providing translation services, in immediate and long-term time-frames.

Venable and DAT Responder Melissa White, also of the Brush Municipal Court, thanked Calvary University for providing space, food and other logistical support for the Red Cross and others to meet with and residents throughout the week of the fire.

Venable also mentioned the Family Resource Center for providing a space for a community meeting that OMC organized last week.

"What we also typically do in these situations is client case-work. That's basically working with families after the incident to help them make their long-term recovery plan," Venable explained.

"That's something that we didn't have to do as much of this time, because One Morgan County arranged a community meeting room at the Family Resource Center. They invited other organizations in to help facilitate some of that long-term recovery these individuals are going to be dealing with," she added.

Venable said it was a new challenge for this Red Cross to work with and offer support to these residents due to the language barrier, and thanked all who came together in the community to make sure the connections were made for support to be distributed.

White, a Morgan County DAT Responder for the Red Cross, reiterated that she saw the coordination come together so smoothly due to the many organizations who worked together throughout the week, from the city departments to non-profit organizations to institutions like Calvary.

Rob Jewel, Director of Community Engagement at the Calvary University Innovation Center in Fort Morgan, confirmed that they provided support to these efforts last week. He said watching these organizations come together made him proud to be in Fort Morgan and highlighted the consistent support of OMC throughout.

Jewel, a member of the FM Rotary Club, thanked them for donating about $500 in Walmart gift cards to residents as well.

Moving forward

Guardado of One Morgan County and Boyett of FM Cultures United for Progress emphasized that challenges remain for these community members and encourages community members to reach out with leads on housing options or food, clothing, hygiene items and other donations.

Boyett said she and FMCUP were willing to provide any translation services needed to facilitate the housing process.

Executive Director Venable of the Northern Colorado Red Cross provided additional context to the significance of this event.

"Any time you have a community, 33 people that are displaced because of a fire, it's a big deal. That's a big deal even in a big city like Denver," she explained. "When you put it in a smaller community like Fort Morgan it's a really significant event."

"These are hardworking folks that are there trying to contribute, trying to do the best they can, and they have something like this," she added. "Imagine if your home burned down, it would be devastating to you."

"So this is obviously devastating and made more difficult simply because of the language barrier and things like that."

Boyett repeated some of their calls for support.

"Our biggest challenge is looking for long-term solutions for housing for these folks," Boyett reiterated. "Any support we can get in that area would really be appreciated."

"Any help around hygiene projects, winter clothes for the kids especially, because we have some kids who were affected, winter coats, jeans, shoes. Newer, rather than used, would be better," she added.

Venable, Guardado and Boyett highlighted the community efforts that mobilized after this incident and continue to do so.

"We really fortunate that we were really able to work through those things and still be able to provide the assistance that they needed," Venable continued. "The Red Cross was impressed with the way the community rallied around these families to provide assistance."

"We're very grateful to have the support of Cargill and other agencies in town that are helping us with short-term help," Boyett said.

"I think overall, it's very eye-opening," Guardado explained. "Everyone who we have contacted for any help has been super helpful and really willing to step up."

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